


Promises, Promises

by hollyandvice (hiasobi_writes)



Series: Holly's Round Seven H/C Bingo Card [15]
Category: Power Rangers R.P.M.
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 01:12:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8183152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hiasobi_writes/pseuds/hollyandvice
Summary: Ziggy makes Dillon a dark promise, certain that the day won't ever come that he has to keep it. When it does, Ziggy has to find a strength he wasn't sure he possessed to do what he swore he would.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Unbeta'ed. Written for H/C Bingo Round 7.

_"You promise me, Zig. You promise that when the time comes… you'll take me out."_

\----

As he stares across the center console at where Dillon is hunched forward, hand pressed to his temple, fear floods his veins, cold and unforgiving. He can't even find the words to ask Dillon for confirmation of his worst nightmares. Doesn't even need it to be honest. He just stares at him, blank and terrified while he tries to make his mind catch up to the moment. While he tries to make his body keep a promise he'd hoped he'd never have to keep.

Dillon's head whips to the side, turning to meet Ziggy's gaze head-on. Ziggy just stares at him, the red in Dillon's eyes more damning than anything else. There's a plea in Dillon's face, a silent need for Ziggy to do something-- _anything_ \--to keep everyone safe from Dillon.

Ziggy still can't move.

Both of them jump when Scott bangs on the top of the car. "Come on, you two. Something's going on, and we need to figure out what it is."

Dillon looks back over at Ziggy, wordlessly begging him once more to do what he'd promised. Ziggy looks away, opening the door of the Fury and getting out. Dillon's head appears on the other side of the car a moment later, and the two of them follow Scott over to the rest of the team.

Ziggy doesn't miss the way Dillon refuses to so much as look at him.

\----

Dillon takes a twisted sort of pleasure in the way he gets to shove past Ziggy in the lab when he comes to only to hear Tenaya's terrified voice coming through Dr. K's speakers.

_He didn't kill you, and that let you stay safe long enough to save her,_ says a tiny voice in the back of his head that sounds a little too much like Summer for his comfort. _No one else would have been able to save her. Shouldn't you be thanking him?_

_He promised me. He **promised** me he wouldn't let me hurt anyone._

_And you didn't, did you?_

Dillon just runs faster.

\----

Ziggy knows it was his coward's blood that made him run to Dr. K instead of standing beside his team to help them to victory. He knows it was nothing more than his own weakness that drew him away from their side at their most dire hour. He could blame it on the fact that that he was the weakest of the team, his certainty that Dr. K was in danger, his confidence that his friends would win, but he knows any of those would be a lie.

It was nothing more than his own cowardice.

So when Dr. K approaches him about the school, he lets his cowardice be his guide yet again. Dillon hasn't spoken to him since Venjix was defeated, and, honestly, he's tired of waiting. Maybe it's time to move on.

\----

"The Venjix virus has been completely eradicated," Dr. K says, and Dillon isn't sure if he's relieved or bitter about the assertion. Relieved that his friends are apparently safe from him now; bitter that the one person he'd thought he could count on to keep his friends safe hadn't have the guts to follow through.

"Any potential side effects?"

"None related to the virus or any other software, though there is a potential for hardware shutdowns similar to the one you experienced in that blast at the warehouse."

Dillon nods. "Nothing Tenaya and I can't handle."

Dr. K purses her lips. "You know he doesn't really want to stay with me."

Dillon snorts. "Right. Sure thing, Doc."

Dr. K reaches out, one hand firm on Dillon's bicep. "He doesn't think you can ever forgive him. That's all."

"And what if I can't?"

"Then you're not the man I thought you were."

"It doesn't matter anymore anyway." Dillon says, tugging his arm out of her grip. "This is as far as he and I go."

"You don't know what you're missing out on, Dillon."

Dillon throws a wry look over his shoulder. "I know more than you think I do."

He walks out before Dr. K can recover.

\----

Watching Dillon drive out of the garage with Tenaya and Summer hurts more than Ziggy thought it could. But he did this; he chose to let Dillon walk out the door, and now he's going to have to live with the consequences.

It's a long time before he turns away to walk back upstairs.

\----

It's three years later when Dillon feels it coming on. He immediately makes sure Tenaya isn't having the same reaction, and can't shake the bone-deep (hah) relief that she isn't. The doc had done a better scan of Tenaya than she had of Dillon, wanting to be completely sure that Tenaya was trustworthy before she let the former attack-bot loose on the world. Now, though, Dillon wishes he'd pushed for the same full sweep of his hardware as well, because this--the ache and the pain and the nagging sensation of an oncoming loss of control--is way too familiar.

Summer's the one that turns the car around and floors it back to Corinth.

She isn't fast enough.

She isn't fast enough, and, in the end, it's only the doc's paranoid safety protocols that keep Dillon from completely succumbing to the virus and killing both her and Tenaya. His only hope is that Ziggy may finally be strong enough to keep his promise, should the need arise. It may be false hope, based on nothing more than a hope and a prayer, but it's all he has left.

\----

Ziggy wakes up to the sound of Scott's car revving in the garage. It's not that Scott doesn't come by anymore so much as that he doesn't usually come in the middle of the night these days. By the time he gets down the stairs and into the garage, however, Dr. K's sliding into the passenger seat, determination in the lines of her features.

"Doc?" Ziggy asks. She flinches, and suddenly Ziggy knows that she was trying to sneak out without him noticing. It sets an angry sort of fire in his chest as he storms across the garage toward her and Scott. "What's going on?"

"Ziggy. I can't…" Dr. K glances over at Scott. "I can't tell you."

Ice floods Ziggy's veins, and suddenly he knows exactly what's going on. "Did he tell you not to?"

Dr. K's face goes suddenly pained. "No. I just didn't want to see that look on your face."

"But he's gonna be okay, right?"

Dr. K glances over at Scott again, as though steeling herself. "I don't know, Ziggy."

Ziggy marches the rest of the way across the garage and stop short in front ot the car. "I'm coming with you."

"Ziggy--"

" _I'm coming with you._ "

Dr. K glances over at Scott, who just sighs. "At least out on some real clothes," Scott says, sounding resigned.

Ziggy doesn't know the last time he made it up the stairs that quickly. Because he doesn't want to have to keep his promise, but if he does, he's damn well going to do it himself. He was too scared the first time, and he'll do everything in his power to make sure that it doesn't come to that, but if someone needs to stop Dillon, Ziggy's going to make damn sure that that person is him.

It was the last promise he made to the man he loves, and he'll be damned if he doesn't keep it.

\----

_"You can't ask me to kill you. Not me. Not after I finally--"_

_"You're the **only** one I can ask. You're the only one that knows me well enough… that **loves** me enough to save me from myself. Please, Ziggy. You have to keep everyone safe."_

_Ziggy's throat is tight, but he swallows past the sensation, leaning forward to press his forehead against Dillon's. "I won't let you hurt anyone, Dillon. I promise."_

**Author's Note:**

> [Come hang with me on tumblr!](http://hollyandvice.tumblr.com/)


End file.
